2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
Finding the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You
Nursing is the most popular major in the United States with 322,592 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.
There are so many nursing programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
The Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools ranking is one of many tools that Nursing Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 173 schools in the United States to see which online doctor's degree programs were the most popular for nursing students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from schools with online programs.
2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Colleges.
Top 25 Most Popular Online Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing
Our analysis found Chamberlain University - Illinois to be the most popular school for nursing students who want to pursue an online doctor’s degree in the United States. Chamberlain - Illinois is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the suburb of Addison.
Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Out of the 173 online programs at schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Grand Canyon University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Grand Canyon University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the city of Phoenix.
Women make up 90% of the nursing majors at the school.
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The in-demand online doctor’s degree programs at Frontier Nursing University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the United States. Located in the rural area of Hyden, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Women make up 92% of the nursing majors at the school.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Capella University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Capella University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the city of Minneapolis.
Of the 171 students majoring in nursing at Capella University, 6% are male and 94% are female.
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University of South Alabama ranked #6 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. USA is a large public school located in the city of Mobile.
Women make up 92% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Brandman University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
About 84% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 16% are male.
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With a ranking of #8, Samford University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. Located in the suburb of Birmingham, Samford is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.
Of the 129 students majoring in nursing at Samford, 11% are male and 89% are female.
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With a ranking of #9, University of Alabama at Birmingham did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. UAB is a fairly large public school located in the city of Birmingham.
Of the 98 students majoring in nursing at UAB, 27% are male and 73% are female.
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University of North Carolina at Greensboro landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Greensboro, UNC Greensboro is a public school with a large student population.
Women make up 80% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Northern Kentucky University ranked #11 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. NKU is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Highland Heights.
Women make up 87% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Maryville University of Saint Louis ranked #12 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, Maryville U is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
Of the 77 students majoring in nursing at Maryville U, 9% are male and 91% are female.
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Chatham University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Chatham is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.
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University of North Florida landed the #14 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the large city of Jacksonville, UNF is a public college with a fairly large student population.
About 86% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 14% are male.
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With a ranking of #15, University of Florida did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Gainesville, UF is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Of the 79 students majoring in nursing at UF, 8% are male and 92% are female.
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Purdue University Global ranked #16 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Purdue University Global is a fairly large public school located in the city of Indianapolis.
Women make up 97% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Virginia Commonwealth University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #17 on the list. VCU is a very large public school located in the midsize city of Richmond.
Women make up 67% of the nursing majors at the school.
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University of Massachusetts Amherst landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the suburb of Amherst, UMass Amherst is a public school with a very large student population.
Of the 62 students majoring in nursing at UMass Amherst, 15% are male and 85% are female.
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East Carolina University came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. ECU is a fairly large public school located in the city of Greenville.
About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.
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University of Kansas did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #20 on the list. KU is a very large public school located in the city of Lawrence.
About 81% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 19% are male.
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University of Central Florida landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. UCF is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Orlando.
About 91% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 9% are male.
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With a ranking of #21, University of Missouri - Kansas City did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. UMKC is a large public school located in the city of Kansas City.
Women make up 81% of the nursing majors at the school.
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University of Iowa landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. Iowa is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Iowa City.
Of the 51 students majoring in nursing at Iowa, 18% are male and 82% are female.
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With a ranking of #24, The University of Texas at Arlington did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Arlington, UT Arlington is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Of the 50 students majoring in nursing at UT Arlington, 6% are male and 94% are female.
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South University’s online programs ranked #25 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. South University's online programs is a moderately-sized private for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Savannah.
Read full report on Nursing at South University’s online programs
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Here are some additional great schools for online Nursing students that almost earned our Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Old Dominion University | Norfolk, VA |
| 27 | Bradley University | Peoria, IL |
| 29 | Wilmington University | New Castle, DE |
| 29 | University of Alabama in Huntsville | Huntsville, AL |
| 31 | American Sentinel University | Aurora, CO |
| 32 | Touro University Nevada | Henderson, NV |
| 33 | Wilkes University | Wilkes-Barre, PA |
| 34 | University of Michigan - Flint | Flint, MI |
Most Popular Online Nursing by Region
View the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Nursing Rankings
Majors Related to Nursing
Nursing Focus Areas
Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 84,274 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 26 schools only.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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